No longer “the fat boy,” Rick Martinez talks about teaching children the value of activity and nutrition.

“Hello, my name is Rick, and I’m overweight.”

“Hello, Rick!”

Seems that nowadays there are groups for everybody—drinkers, gamblers, drug addicts, and, yes, overeaters. Seems like nowadays we try to blame someone else for our woes and then join a group to learn how to accept and move on.

3 Comments on “Barrel Boy”

It's amazing to see this article today of all days, because I just posted to my box's blog comments about yesterday, my year anniversary with Crossfit. I started on 10-25-10 with zero work capacity and a 56" waist. Yesterday I RX'd a WOD, totaling 122 reps of hang cleans, front squats & push presses, and left the box in my new 44" pants. My background is so similar to yours as far as being an active obese person, and your story speaks volumes about Crossfit's ability to enable life-changing transformations. Thanks for writing this, and congratulations on your success!

Wonderful post. We are facing the epidemic of our generation. The problem is it is a long silent killer that drains families economically as well as physically. Our health costs are soaring out of control and educational programs such as yours are the foundation for battling this epidemic. Keep up the good work.

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